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Life Among the Unemployed February 27

Like the fact that my health insurance ends in a week. I promise you that I haven’t just been blowing this whole process off to the last minute.

OK, I pushed it off to the next to last minute.

I started the process about 10 days ago. Part of the delay has been that I didn’t have all the information I needed (some fairly specific income details). I have never spent a lot of time thinking about how much I make. I don’t work for the money. If I have enough to do what I need to do I’m OK, if I have a little more then I’m good. My lady wife handles the finances of the family. And she’s in St. Louis. Working. So that slowed it down.

Then the webpage glitched. I was impressed by the short time I spent on hold (15-20 minutes) before a very nice gentleman named Jose came on to help me. It was a little surprising when he began speaking rapid Spanish to me. I stopped him to say I was English only. He apologized and went on in English. Jose double checked a few things for me and discovered that the web page was having a small break down. So I had to wait till today to finish the application process.

(Note to other newly unemployed: First, don’t wait till the next to last minute. Second, prepare for a modestly involved process to complete the application portion. Have a paystub, last year’s tax forms, any current health insurance information, social security numbers for all family members, addresses for all employers for everyone in the family. You’ll get through it faster than I did. Oh, and don’t be afraid to call the help line. They want you to suceed.)

So now I’m faced with an array of options for insurance. There are only two deal breaker items – primary care physician and drug benefits. The Lady Donna takes a couple of specific drugs that are extremely important and rather expensive. How drugs are paid for is very important. The other item is that I’ve got my doctor broken in and I don’t want to start with a new one. (That’s a joke, people. I have a doctor I like. ‘Nuff said). Tonight I will Skype with herself and we’ll make a decision.

I have been a radio personality and a youth minister for virtually all of my adult life. Two great ways to not really be an adult while you’re an adult. Moments like this require me to bring out the grown up me and put him to work. He’s a very nice, responsible, hard working guy. It’s nice to have him around when I need him.

Meanwhile I didn’t make the cut with one opening (near Houston, TX) and added four more (AR, VA, NY and NV). My one “hot” opening may have cooled a little. Still a place I would be very excited about working in but the messages from them feel a little mixed at the moment. Hope it’s just unemployment paranoia.